Yes they are, though hard work is what makes those opportunities work.

Everyone doesn't have the same opportunities available to them though, you are missing the point. That would be fine because society will never be truly equal but when it's due to racism, classism and other factors is what people are talking about.

No kidding, that's why you need to work hard to attain said opportunities. Life isn't easy, and it never will be easy, it's going to be harder for some to get ahead, I'm not missing the point. I just don't have a bleeding heart for everyone who doesn't have everything they want.

So hard work is all it takes? Isn't that part of the mantra that doomed the GOP this year?

I can't fathom believing something so naive.

Do you think if we lined up the BluesNews posters by income we'd also line them up by how hard they work?Do you think the coal miners in Kentucky making $20,000 per year are lazy?

If we look at the graduation rate for black people and see it's significantly below that of any other rate, is the only conclusion we can reach that they're a bunch of lazy jerks that don't work hard?Isn't that racist?

You claim to have seen it all, but you're so naive it's impossible to believe. Go into an inner city school. See the parents, who are barely there. See the kids, who weren't read to as children. See them not do homework because no one other than the teacher gives a shit if they do or not (and, honestly, after a few years the teacher is probably so defeated that he doesn't care, either.)When is this kid supposed to realize and start working hard? Are we really comfortable blaming an 8 year old for that?

And are you so insecure in your achievements that you are unwilling to believe you got some of them not due to hard work but due to the conditions you were born into?